I am a licensed insurance professional and variable product salesperson. I am writing to you concerning the suitability standard and principal review requirements pertaining to the sale of variable annuities contained in NASD proposed Rule 2821.

First of all, I am in favor of aggressively prosecuting registered reps who engage in bad behavior. However, less than .50% of complaints with the NASD are for variable annuity problems. And for those problems that do exist, there seems to be adequate regulatory machinery in place.

Secondly, the requirement for additional oversight by a principal seems discriminatory, in comparison to other products. The road to second guessing what a rep heard, suggested and acted upon is never ending and almost always subjective. And this process would be conducted by a principal who was not even present at the time of sale. It seems to me the more and more barriers and requirements we impose for a sales transaction to be successfully completed, the more we actually create situations where litigation becomes a possibility. We have seen how overregulation has strangled businesses in the UK, Australia and other countries.